“I Am the God of Israel”

D. Kelly Ogden, Andrew C. Skinner

A beautiful lesson comes from the wounds in the Savior’s side, wrists, hands, and feet. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland wrote: “However dim our days may seem, they have been a lot darker for the Savior of the world. As a reminder of those days, Jesus has chosen, even in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, to retain for the benefit of His disciples the wounds in His hands and in His feet and in His side—signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect; signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you; signs, if you will, that problems pass and happiness can be ours.”15

Elder Tad R. Callister, a member of the Seventy, explained the effects of Jesus’ physical wounds: “In his resurrected state, Jesus retained the prints of nails in his hands and feet as a special manifestation to the world. Such marks, however, are only temporary. After all have confessed that he is the Christ, his resurrected body will, like those of all mankind, be restored to its ‘proper and perfect frame’ (Alma 40:23).”16

“I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth.” He was not appearing as a great moral teacher or even as our elder brother. He is above all others who live on this planet. He is God.

Verse by Verse: The Book of Mormon: Vol. 2

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